In the last video, we saw that
despite the fact that Italy was an original member
of the Triple Alliance, it was a very
awkward relationship. You fast forward to the
beginning of World War I, Italy tried to stay neutral arguing
that the Triple Alliance was being on the offense as
opposed to the defense. And then, as we mentioned,
in the spring of 1915, it signs the secret Treaty
of London with the Allies. Then in May, it
actually declares war on Austria-Hungary. It actually wouldn't formally
declare war on Germany until 1916. And so that lays the setting
for the actual combat along the Italian
Austro-Hungarian border that they share right over here. And so this next map I'm going
to show you is essentially a zoom in of this
part of this map. So that's this map
right over here. So we can start in 1915. So we're going to start
right over here in 1915. We already saw that in May
Italy declares war on Austria. They didn't war on Germany
until the next year. The first combat happens in
June with the first Battle on the Isanzo River. I'm sure I'm mispronouncing it. The Isanzo River
contours the then border between Italy and the
Austro-Hungarian empire. So it goes right along
this area right over here. It's actually a very
mountainous region. And as we'll see,
the Italian front involved many, many battles
along the Isanzo River, in fact, 12 battles in all. June 1915, it was
the first battle. And these continue into 1916. We get all the way
until the Fifth Battle of the Isanzo River. So actually, let me draw that
arrow a little bit longer. These continue all
the way into 1916. And these essentially
end up in a stalemate. A lot of people die
in these battles. It's incredibly
difficult terrain. It favors the defending forces. And so, nothing really
happens to the border here. So far, all the offenses
that the Italians had taken, nothing really happened. Then, as we get
into May of 1916, the Austro-Hungarians decide
to go on the offensive. And they go on the
offensive in this part of the border right over here. And their offensive
is called the Battle of Asiago, which
is right over here. They are able to get
as far as Asiago. But once again, even though they
were able to claim some ground, they weren't able
to keep the ground. There were spreading
their troops out. They weren't able to
maintain their supply chain, their supply lines. So by the end of that
battle, the Italians had reclaimed that territory. And the actual front had
not moved dramatically. So really the first two
years of the conflict ended up in a bit of stalemate. In fact, it continues. We then to pick up in 1916
the Sixth Battle on the Isanzo River. And then these battles
on the Isanzo River continue into 1917. So let me show you. These are the battles
on the Isanzo River. These continue all
the way into 1917. Now, as we enter into 1917,
several interesting things are happening. One, as you might remember,
on the Eastern Front in 1917, the Russians are
starting to fall apart. They are starting to
have revolutions at home. They're losing on Eastern Front. This allows the Germans
to redeploy some troops. Also, at this point,
Italy is formally at war with the Germans. So as we get to October of
1917, the Austro-Hungarians are able to get
reinforced by the Germans. And it was just in time. Because frankly,
by the 11th Battle of the Isanzo
River in late 1917, the Austro-Hungarians
aren't quite sure whether they can handle a 12th
Battle on the Isanzo River. So the Germans essentially
show up just in time. In October of 1917, along
with the Austro-Hungarians, the Germans then launch
their own offensive on the Isanzo River. And this one is actually
the first dramatic movement that we see along
the Italian front. And this is often
called the Battle of Caporetto, which
is right over here. But as you could
imagine, it's right along the border between
these two states and it's along the Isanzo
River, so this is also referred to as the 12th
Battle of the Isanzo River. And this one is a very
successful offensive. They focused their
troops near Caporetto at this point of the front. They're able to break
the Italian front. And then push deep
into Italian territory. So through October
and early November, they're able to, over
the next several weeks-- this is in October,
November 1917-- they're able to push the Italians
all the way back to behind it the Piave River, so
this right over here. You may or may not
be able to read it. That says the Piave River. So they're able to push
the Italians roughly back to this boundary
right over here. And so this takes us into 1918. Now at this point, the Germans
are planning their last ditch spring offensive. They say, hey, look
Austro-Hungarians, it looks like this war is taken. We're going to leave
this front to you guys. You guys should be able
to do the knock out blow on the Italians right now. We're going to go return
to the Western Front, so that we can take
care of the Allies, especially because if we
don't do it sooner than later the Americans are going
to be able to reinforce the Western Front. So the Germans redeploy
to Western Front, away from this front. And essentially leave
the Austro-Hungarians to try to essentially
take out the Italians. And so in June 1918,
the Austro-Hungarians attempt their final--
what they hope is their final-- offensive. And its along this boundary
right here on the Piave River. Unfortunately for the
Austro-Hungarians, and fortunately
for the Italians, the Austro-Hungarians did
not plan that assault well. Instead of doing
a point offensive like they did with the Germans
in the Battle of Caporetto, where they were able to break
the trenches, break the lines, here it was less planned,
less coordinated. It was more spread out
along the entire line. On top of everything,
the Italians got word of the
exact time and date that the battle
was going to start. It was literally going to
start 3:00 AM on June 15. The Italians decide,
well, it the battle's going to start at 3:00
AM on June 15, that means that all of their
soldiers are going to be in the trenches ready to
attack at 3:00 AM on June 15. So they started
lobbing artillery into these densely
packed trenches knowing that it was likely to
hit a lot of people because there were a lot
of people who were waiting in the trenches
for an offensive. And so even before
the battle began, they were able to
inflict a lot of carnage on the soon to be invading
Austro-Hungarians. The invasion itself
was a bit of a debacle. When they were able to get
on top of the Piave River, it isolated their troops. The Italians were able to
take advantage of that. And those troops
that were isolated the south bank of
the Piave River, they were able to
take care of them. And they were able to push
the Austro-Hungarians back. And they secured huge losses. The Austro-Hungarian army
was incredibly weakened. And some people believe
that the Italians could have just done an
immediate counter offensive and taken the
Austro-Hungarians out. The Italians, on
the other hand, they were still licking their wounds
from the Battle of Caporetto and they decided to wait their
chance and regroup a bit. And so they wait
until October of 1918. You have a very weakened
Austro-Hungarian army. And this is when the Italians
do their decisive offensive of the Italian front, the
Battle of the Vittorio Venito. Vittorio Venito is
right over here. And once again, I apologize
to all of the Italians out there for my
mispronunciations. But this is what's
essentially able to break the back
of the Austrians. The Italians are
able to pour through. They're able to, essentially,
take out the Austrians. The Austrians were
already weakened. They're starting to
have internal strife. The empire is starting
to fall apart. And so by November, the
Austro-Hungarian empire essentially surrenders. And not just with the
Italians, but surrenders relative to the Allies,
which is essentially the end of the Italian
front of World War I.